NASA competition finds a better space glove

Wow, that was fast. We checked in on the NASA competition to design a better space glove just a few days ago, and they've already crowned a winner. Peter Homer, an engineer from Southwest Harbor, Maine, beat out three other competitors and the current NASA Phase VI glove to bag the $200,000 prize with his design made with off-the-shelf kitchen cleaning gloves and "a cloth material he found on eBay." The achievement is all the more remarkable for occurring in the contest's first year, since NASA doesn't usually see very many winners in these challenges -- in fact, this is the first time anyone has ever won. Expect to see NASA trolling eBay for ISS parts in the near future.

[Via NewScientist]

[Chuckles McGee @ May 4th 2007 8:42PM]

NASA trolling on Ebay? Heh, given NASA's purchasing issues, they'll probably choose to "submit an offer" for more than the "buy-it-now" price.

[Conda @ May 4th 2007 8:54PM]

that was fast. no bleeding hands even

[varish @ May 4th 2007 9:20PM]

haha, the last line made me laugh :)

[Julio Gonzales @ May 4th 2007 9:49PM]

Ebay is a tremendous source for parts. A couple years ago, I needed a power supply for a project I was building. None were available commercially so I checked Ebay. I found the part on Ebay from a 1st generation system we had turned in as excess several years prior. The SAME piece of equipment. I won't mention which field center I work at, but I work for NASA.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ May 5th 2007 2:54AM]

I know several years ago, NASA was scowering EBAY for used 8086 CPU's to act as replacements for various flight control systems that had been in use for 25+ years and had also been discontinued from production.

Click the Listen button,
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1143352

[oGMo @ May 4th 2007 9:52PM]

Of course, the cloth found on ebay is actually a sample from the future, brought back but later lost in the washing machine, only to be found by a lucky-but-unaware grandma in Los Angeles, who sold it in an ebay "garage sale".

They have new space gloves, but they can't figure out how to make any more. Though they'll get ideas.

This leads to Skynet eventually becoming self-aware, of course.

[L.Rawlins @ May 5th 2007 4:56PM]

Well done that man.

[larry mcsandals @ May 5th 2007 10:31PM]

well, its not exactly rocket science.

[lettcco @ May 6th 2007 7:26AM]

Ebay of course! Where else do you think Lisa Nowak got her supplies of NASA diapers?